Jim Ingraham: Sprint to wild-card finish for Indians, five other teams

By
Jim Ingraham, The News-Herald & The Morning Journal

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Now comes the tomato-can portion of the Indians’ schedule — and, following a messy 7-2 loss to Kansas City Wednesday night, not a moment too soon.
Let’s just say the schedule maker better be on the Indians’ Christmas list this year. The Indians couldn’t have drawn this baby up any better if they’d created the schedule themselves.
Ten games left in the sprint to the playoffs. Six of the 10 games at home. Ten of the 10 games against the three worst teams in the American League: Houston, Chicago and Minnesota.
The Indians are 12 games over .500. The Astros, White Sox and Twins are a combined 102 games under .500. The Astros have already lost 100 games, with 10 games left in the season. The White Sox have lost 92 games, and the Twins have lost 86.
With a trip to the postseason riding in the balance, the Indians are about to embark on a regular season-ending 10-game stretch against the three biggest losers in the American League.
Those three teams have a combined record of 176-278 (.388).
The Indians’ combined record vs. those three teams this year is 26-9 (.743). They are 15-2 against the White Sox 9-6 vs. the Twins and 2-1 vs. the Astros.
One of those Indians’ wins over Houston was by a score of 19-6. They’ve beaten the White Sox by scores such as 7-1, 8-1, 14-3 and 19-10. In their combined 35 games against Houston, Chicago and Minnesota the Indians have outscored those three teams by more than 80 runs (200-118).
Since their last trip to the postseason in 2007, the Indians have been waiting for six years for their ship to come. Well here it is: the Queen Mary.
On paper, this couldn’t be set up better for the Tribe.
On the field? Different story.
It may look good on paper, but you have to win the games. It’s why they play them. There’s also this: In these next 10 games, the Indians’ opponents have nothing to lose. The Indians, meanwhile, have everything to lose.
Or do they?
In a way, the Indians are playing with house money. They lost 94 games last year. They could win 90 games this year. Nobody expected them to be in the wild-card hunt with 10 games left in the regular season.
Heck, nobody expected them to be in the wild-card hunt with 162 games left in the season. But here they are. Pesky and plucky to the end.
Regardless of how the final 10 games play out, it’s been a remarkable season for Team Tito. They’ve been up and down and over and out multiple times this season. But the finish line is now in sight, and the Indians are somehow still running with the big dogs.
Go figure.
They have played all of September without their No. 1 starting pitcher, and with three of the other five starters in the rotation on strict pitch limits. Their all-star shortstop is having the worst year of his career, and they won’t have a single player drive in 90 runs. Maybe not even 85.
All that, and even after losing two of three games to the Royals — the last team with a winning record they will play in the regular season — the Indians still have a record of 11-6 in September.
They are still alive in the race for one of the two wild-card spots, which earns you a berth in that most hair-raising of all postseason games — the best-of-one, winner-take-all wild-card game.
With 10 games to play, there are about six teams battling for two spots, with Texas, Tampa Bay and Cleveland, in that order, in the best position to survive and advance.
For the Indians, nothing has come easy this season, probably because, even with the offseason additions, their roster still looks a little short compared to the other wild-card contenders.
But except for 10 more teeth-grinding games, the long regular season is over. The Indians don’t have to worry about being the best team in the American League for the next six months. They only have to be one of the two best teams out of six over the next 10 days.
For Indians fans these are uncharted waters. In their seven trips to the playoffs over the last 18 years, each time as a division winner, they won their division by margins of 8, 6, 21, 9, 6, 14 and 30 games.
Now they are coming down the stretch nose-to-nose with two other teams and nose-to-ears with three others.
They don’t call it the wild card for nothing.
Thursday night the drama returns to Progressive Field. Bring your own pacemaker.